Somewhere, Orson Welles is smiling

Practical jokes are funny. Who doesn’t like a whoopee cushion or fake dog poop?

Practical jokes about a military invasion, played on an entire, unsuspecting nation, however, aren’t.

The late Orson Welles learned this when he staged the War of the Worlds broadcast back in 1938. The fake Martian attack was interrupted by commercials and disclaimers. But, like angry people on the Web, listeners only absorbed what they wanted, i.e. “Martians are attacking!”

The station manager defended the report and the lack of disclaimers, saying the goal was to spark a national conversation on security issues. Even though he may have violated Georgian law, Giorgi Arveladze also said he wasn’t going to quit.